Saving Zihuatanejo

Regarding the large hotels in Ixtapa, while they do provide employment for many locals, they also import the majority of their better paid employees and tend to give more menial jobs and definitely underpaid jobs to locals. They pretty consistently receive huge tax breaks and return very little except for wages and a lot of refuse to the local economy (refuse we also can't seem to properly dispose of). So they don't really need my help and I don't really care to promote them, and my listing their websites in my Directory of Ixtapa Hotels is more of a courtesy to visitors than to help those hotels find guests. Some of them don't even seem interested in making money but instead losing money so as not to pay taxes for huge profits generated elsewhere, such as places like Cancún. I much prefer to promote smaller hotels, guest inns and rentals in our region, especially those owned and operated by local families. Many born locals are still looking for the more adventurous less demanding tourists that put Zihuatanejo on the tourist map to begin with, while our mostly non-local tourism authorities seek any warm body with a few bucks to spend, an approach to tourism that I definitely don't agree with and that I see as only contributing to the proliferation of all types of growing problems that we seem unable to cope with much less resolve. Those same authorities seek more and more cruise ships and megaprojects as well as the approval of casinos. Maybe some of you agree with this type of tourism development, but I and many locals don't and hope we can reverse these ugly trends before our paradise is truly lost forever. Many of us still believe the old Zihuatanejo with its green hills, clear waters, unspoiled natural attractions, simple culture and its respectful repeat visitors, those who didn't need a bar on every corner or a swim-with-the-imprisoned-dolphins "attraction" or the proliferation of "table-dance" entertainment (Ixtapa is getting a new one right in front of Ixtapa Palace) is worth preserving and is more beneficial for future generations of visitors and locals alike.

So if visitors are really seeking to save money then I can simply recommend they do business with locally owned and operated lodgings. The locals are definitely friendly, especially much more so than the faceless "hospitality" corporations and their Machiavellian money-generating enterprises.

I don't mean to offend anyone, and please forgive me if I come across a bit too strong on this. Just my two centavos worth.

¡Viva Zihuatanejo!

The Peje Effect

AMLO is MALO

My personal opinion of the Peje Effect is that it was always the electoral strategy of the PRD to block the reforms proposed by Presidente Fox (while offering no viable alternatives and even though in later interviews Diputados of the PRD/PRI bloc commented they were actually in favor of the reforms but had to follow their respective parties' orders) in order to purposefully cause or allow deteriorating conditions throughout the country so that they could label the Fox Presidency a failure. IMHO, and in the opinions of many people I have spoken with about it, those Diputados are traitors to the people of Mexico by their dereliction of duty and with their eye only on personal gain, not the well-being of the country. They intentionally ignored the "will of the people", i.e. the Fox mandate, and fomented social discontent in order to claim to represent the "poor masses", who also are largely the least educated and most gullible part of the electorate. This was part of the old priista strategy of keeping the electorate ignorant and thus under control by handing out dispensas and populist social programs that actually kept the poor poor. So although I do not agree with many of the principles of the PAN, they appear to be the lesser evil as well as the least cynical and most competent of the three major parties, particularly at the national level. I see the PRD as the most cynical party and just as corrupt if not more than the PRI from which they split and to whose cause now run some of the most notorious dinosaurios along with many inept, corrupt priistas who simply live off the public dole. Between the infamous videoscandals showing el Peje's closest associates accepting millions of pesos in suitcases (the money has never been accounted for, the officials accepting it are out of jail, and the only person still in a jail of the same DF government Peje left to run for the Presidency is the person who filmed the videos and paid the bribes), and the incompetence of the perredista governments at the state and local levels to alleviate, much less improve, ANY of our increasing problems (i.e. education, housing, jobs, PUBLIC SECURITY, ecology, pollution, public sanitation, organized crime, land invasions, corruption, lawlessness, etc) it is only asking for more trouble to vote for PRD candidates. Next to the PRD, even the priistas look acceptable. Now we have the renegade perredista presidential candidate fomenting insurrection under the guise of civil disobedience, but it goes much further than that and includes the current violence in Oaxaca as well as the past violence in San Juan de Atenco. We also have el Peje declaring himself the President of Mexico even though he lost the election in the most transparent elections in the country's history. His is the story of a delusional demagogical fanatic seeking power at any and all costs. He represents the absolute worst of politicians, especially in this time when what we need most is national unity to overcome problems neglected for generations. One thing is for certain: if the elections were annulled and held again today el Peje wouldn't even come close to almost winning, but would instead lose by a decisive vote against him. He completely blew the opportunity and sympathetic respect his voter turnout gave him. It has become apparent to many more people, including his former supporters, just how BAD he would've been for our country. Imagine having a President who shows contemptuous disrespect for the laws and institutions of the country he runs. In most countries such a situation has led to dictatorships. It's one thing to seek institutional and/or constitutional reform through congressional legislation (something President Fox attempted as per his electoral mandate but was frustrated by the PRD/PRI bloc), another to overthrow those institutions using mobs in the streets (something AMLO has attempted since he knew he lost the election the night of July 2).

Patzcuaro... Patzcuaro...

Enchanting land and perfect climate

My mother and I both celebrate our birthdays at the beginning of June. Hers is on the 5th and mine is on the 7th. This year for our birthdays my brother, Wood, came to visit us from Gainesville, Florida. He arrived on June 2nd... and that evening it started to rain. It rained pretty much non-stop for about 3 days, so that when the sun finally did come out the humidity and the heat together made it seem much hotter than usual, like being in a steam bath. Now I had been hinting to my mother for quite some time that for my birthday I'd like for us all to go to Pátzcuaro, Michoacán together, and when the heat set in I again brought it up. Well lo and behold the idea took root and my mother made it a reality! (Click on the photos to enlarge them.) So on June 8th we loaded up her brand new Jeep Grand Cherokee, and my mother, my brother, Lupita and I were soon on the road to the sierra of Michoacán and Pátzcuaro! The Autopista Siglo XXI is in excellent shape for the most part, though it does have a few whoop-dee-doos if you drive at high speeds like my mother does (ahem). But it was a beautiful drive up into the high sierra and across the desert and cactus region called Tierra Caliente where the temperature was hotter than on the coast we had just left. I took some good videos as we bounced along the way listening to Gladys Knight and the Pips. ;~) Once we started seeing pine trees the temperature also began to drop, and by the time we got to Pátzcuaro it was cool and utterly refreshing. It even started to drizzle ever so lightly, but not even enough to get wet or be a bother. Here are some views of the Pátzcuaro skyline taken just after we arrived.

Pátzcuaro is an ancient place where it seems time runs on a different standard. Old buildings, old streets, old customs all blend together to take one to a place where the past is the present.

The rich history of Pátzcuaro can be sensed in every doorway, every building, every street. We stayed at a very comfortable and truly enchanting Bed & Breakfast called La Casa Encantada located on Calle Dr. Coss #15 just a block and a half from the Plaza Don Vasco de Quiroga. They offer free wireless internet access, among their other wonderful amenities, and so it is possible to work and do the e-mail thing for those of us who just can't completely ignore our businesses for even a day. There is secure parking in an old remodeled villa courtyard practically across the street. For other meals besides the delicious breakfasts at La Casa Encantada, Pátzcuaro offers quite a variety of places. One delightful reastaurant very convenient to La Casa Encantada at less than a half block towards the main plaza, Plaza Don Vasco Quiroga, is called Mistongo where we had our first meal after arriving. I enjoyed a delicious white fish, typical of the region, and started to feel some of the magic of Pátzcuaro seeping in with every bite.

Everything in Pátzcuaro closes at 10:00 PM. We managed to find one funky hole-in-the-wall café just off the main plaza where we enjoyed coffee, cappuccino and hot chocolate before turning in for the night. The next day we strolled around town for a while early in the morning, taking in some of the markets with their interesting locally made handcrafts. One place we came across on the Plaza Gertrudis Bocanegra was a hotel called El Refugio, newly refurbished from an old palatial building. Then we decided to explore the region and see if we could find the pyramid at Tzintzuntzán. Located about 17 km from Pátzcuaro, this pyramid is the original center of the local culture and civilization, and it is topped with 5 structures called yácatas, which were temples. It is quite impressive to walk around this ancient structure and see the ruins of the buildings that are part of this site. In photos it is difficult to appreciate the massive size of this pyramid, which like most Mexican pyramids is actually one built on top of another, each dating back further into history. One thing I found interesting were small carvings in some of the stones of the yácatas, almost like signatures of the stonemasons. Among them were circles, spirals, and some that looked like the "f" hole of a violin. A couple are visible above my head in the photo to the left. Below are shown part of one of the yácatas (left) and the town of Tzintzuntzán fronting el Lago de Pátzcuaro (right). There was a marvelous breeze atop the pyramid, and even with the bright sunshine, it was a very pleasant and comfortable place to be.

After our visit to the well preserved and well maintained archaeological site at Tzintzuntzán, we drove on to the town of Quiroga at the eastern end of el Lago de Pátzcuaro where we had delicious carnitas for lunch at a historic restaurant on the Plaza Principal with its Monumento de la América. After lunch we went to a store just a couple of blocks away that specialized in leather goods where my brother bought himself a rather nifty leather jacket, which he got a chance to wear that evening in Pátzcuaro when the temperatures cooled once again. Our last evening in Pátzcuaro we went to a very interesting restaurant called Cha Cha Cha, another converted old villa, where we all enjoyed excellent service and portions so large that it was a challenge, if not impossible, to finish them. A painting on the wall next to our table depicting Zihuatanejo's Playa Principal made us feel right at home. Our last day, before driving back to the coast (just in time to watch the opening match of the 2006 World Cup) we wanted to visit a guest inn that friends of ours had recently remodeled from a former 18th century guest inn and stables. Mesón de San Antonio is an absolutely adorable inn near the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de la Salud.

Our last stop was to the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de la Salud, steeped itself in history and built on top of the prehispanic remnants of a cué, similar to a yácata. Here Lupita appears dwarfed by the Basílica's doors. A wedding ceremony takes place inside the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de la Salud. The entire time we were in Pátzcuaro the weather was absolutely perfect, and even during the daytime I don't recall once breaking out in a sweat even when huffing up steep hills at the high altitude of 2,140 meters above sea level. Time and time again since our return to Zihuatanejo, especially during the summer heat of las canicas (the 40 hottest days of the year) Lupita and I look at each other and say "Pátzcuaro... Pátzcuaro...", wishing to be back in that enchanting region with its superbly refreshing climate.

Help & Hope on the Horizon

The daily despair of seeing our once beautiful and pristine bay fouled by the discharges of the inadequate water treatment plants and runoff from denuded hillsides has received a slight reprieve in the form of renewed and growing support among local businesses and professionals aligning themselves with the causes of the environmentalists and locals who have been struggling for years against the corrupt and inept political machinery that has allowed 45 squatter communities along with several luxury tourist developments of dubious origin and benefit to occupy and deforest our bay's hillsides and degrade our cherished ecological zones. Environmentalists, representatives of the Colleges of Architects and Engineers, legal consultants for the Cámara Nacional de Comercio (Canaco - the National Chamber of Commerce), and 3 local town councilpersons have uncovered serious legal defects in the recently approved zoning changes made to the Plan Director de Desarrollo Urbano (urban development master plan). The zoning changes would permit the regularización of the 45 squatter communities that have sprouted up like mushrooms over the past 15 years, thanks to unscrupulous political parties promising cheap land in exchange for votes. The zoning changes would also allow the development of megaprojects such as Cerro del Vigía on the eastern side of the bay and a similar project, Montecristo, on the western side of the bay. Upon scrutinizing the legal document changing the zoning for these areas it was discovered that it contains such serious irregularities as to render the document illegal and unconstitutional. For starters, it was pointed out that modifications to the Plan Director de Desarrollo Urbano are supposedly only permitted once every three years. Since it was last modified in 2004 by the previous municipal administration, the current document violates the law. But even more alarming is that the document supposedly authorizing the zoning changes is dated September 30, 2005 and signed by the current mayor Silvano Blanco. The problem is that Silvano Blanco was NOT sworn in as the mayor at that time, he was simply the mayor-elect and thus did not have the competent authority required. Legal consultants also mentioned that other necessary signatures required by law were also missing from the document even though it has already been published in the official State Gazette, one of the requirements for implementing any new or modified law. So since the state government supposedly approved the document, suggesting they actually reviewed and scrutinized it (though in practice they rarely ever read or study such documents), it would appear that there has been connivance between at least two levels of government (both coincidentally governed by the same political party) to implement an unconstitutional zoning change that would reap huge political (if not also economical) benefits for the party in power during the upcoming federal and state elections. Personally, I am encouraged and gladdened by this recent development. However, I have no illusions that the political party in power at both the state and municipal levels will do everything they can to try to stifle the opposition and to conceal their allegedly illegal actions as they have done in other similar circumstances. Now it is up to us, the citizens, to support this initiative to reestablish and protect our ecological zones. Obviously the city must grow to accommodate its growing population, but it makes inherently more sense for the city planners to plan its growth horizontally towards Pantla and Coacoyul, not vertically towards our hilltops and ecological zones where the cost of providing services with already insufficient resources will not only cancel out the possibility of providing improved municipal services for the taxpayers and long-established businesses and residents, but such horizontal growth will continue contributing to the overall deterioration of the environment, including the bay, which is our principal tourist attraction, thus denying future generations a secure and healthy environmental heritage and jeapordizing our principal economic activity.

The Big Bad Change

Cerro del Vigía proceeds at full blast with the destruction of what the native Zihuatanejo community still considers its ecological zone. It appears that any legal impediments (and I use the term "legal" very loosely since this is arguably the biggest land theft scam and act of corruption by public officials across the political spectrum in the history of Zihuatanejo) were overcome for the time being since heavy equipment can be seen operating there daily. I believe this was one of the stupidest developments ever permitted here and certainly the most treasonous act ever perpetrated by local public officials, obviously with help and proper persuasion from higher-ups and other "influentials".

The Monte Cristo development between Puerto Mío and Playa La Majahua is obviously hot on the propaganda trail, trying to appeal to the pseudo-ecologists with flowery images and sounds and feel-good concepts. One has only to take a look at blasted out fragile hills surrounding Playa Contramar and their view-blocking stone wall they have built along the Carretera Escénica La Majahua to know that preserving ecology is the farthest thing from their minds and has nothing to do with what is happening there.

And now a new concern is the quiet plan to develop Las Salinas lagoon, a lagoon we would rather save and preserve as the last natural area adjacent to downtown, a place where mangroves and birds and green spaces should be protected for future generations. But first we have to fix the pollution problem.

And we aren't ever going to be able to get a handle on the pollution problem unless we have a moratorium on new construction and rationally regulate land use in favor of restoring the health of the bay and the ecosystem of the surrounding hillsides. Otherwise the bay will become a sludgepot in a few years and the denuded hillsides will be so ugly that no one will want to come here anyway.

These may be the final few years that many of our regular visitors will still wish to vacation here. Already too many of our former repeat vacationers have stopped coming here altogether. But it appears that they must not be the most desirable market, since we continue doing everything to drive them away in favor of the investors in megaprojects.

Though local officials have certainly been complicit in worsening the situation, there is also pressure from state and federal officials who have their own special interests to look after. The revival of the development at Playa La Majahua came on the heels of the release of former Presidente Salinas' brother, Raúl, from prison. He was allegedly one of the original investors. The road at La Majahua is the only place I have ever seen a black jaguar (often mistakenly called a black panther) in the wild. Unfortunately with the development there and the lack of corriders for wildlife allowing them to cross beneath the coastal highway I doubt anyone will ever see one there again.

But don't it always go to show that you don't know what you've got till it's gone...

(Photo courtesy of Roberto! Robertson)